Lecture by John Malpede, founder and director of Los Angeles Poverty D

John Malpede directs, performs, and engineers multi-event projects that have theatrical, installation, public art, and educational components. In 1985, he founded the Los Angeles Poverty Department (LAPD), a performance group comprised primarily of homeless and formerly homeless people who make art, live, and work on Skid Row in Los Angeles. LAPD creates performances and multidisciplinary artworks that connect the experience of people living in poverty to the social forces that shape their lives and communities, and also promotes the idea that Skid Row could be improved by embracing and nourishing the powers of the people who live in the neighborhood.